Melonie Mac's Gameplay Impressions Thread
Member Join Date: Feb 2002 / Posts: 24,203
...Now let's talk Camilla. This is another huge topic of discussion here, and I have been very vocal about not liking her direction in the reboot and rise as she sounded so dramatic and forced. I'll be honest and say I expected the same for Shadow, but to my surprise I was wrong! I'm a believer now, Camilla can voice Lara forever like this and I'd be over the moon, I feel she finally is able to use her potential! No more dramatic sounding cadence... she sounds natural and it makes Lara feel infinitely more real…
At the beginning of the demo Lara is nerding out to Jonah about her findings, and it's about time we see Lara get actually excited about archaeology. She sounds like such a nerd in that part and it excited me, that's how Lara should be, very into her studies. When the gameplay started in the town I walked around a lot so I could trigger more dialogue between Lara and Jonah, which was really fun. Both Jonah and Lara have much more personality, and it's really fun to see...
...Finding the Dagger was a cool moment, because it felt like Lara cared a lot, she was really into the moment and after rapelling down she smiled and was in awe of what she saw. Her curiosity and fascination was really great to see, it felt like a side of Lara I have wanted to see for so long...
Some of you may remember how I complained that Lara looks perpetually scared 24/7 in Rise, her brows are always angled up and look fearful in that game, but this time around she doesn't have that expression. She looks confident at all times, and I'm living for it!
...She doesn't always make the best decisions, and she made a huge mistake this time around. Even so she still made excuses when confronted, but reality hits her hard and she has a traumatized moment. It's all portrayed so well though, nothing overdramatic, it's just real and shocking. I love this Lara, I'm absolutely fascinated by her and I want to see more. I want to know her better. In the reboot and Rise her personality was so bland to me, and I felt like she was such a drama queen that I couldn't find her relatable or anything more than just a shell of a person, but this time she feels much more real with a dynamic personality. I'm here for it.
I was able to play twice, and I wish I had the demo at home because I want to play it so much more to hold me off while I wait for the game. I really think this will be the best Tomb Raider since Last Revelation, but I need to see more exploring and tombs before I can be confident in that. But regarding Lara's portrayal and the setting and story, this has far exceeded my expectations...